50 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Nusbaum and Schreiber described), " Bethe's cells " (whicb are somewhat 

 similar and mucb more abundant) are really mesencbymatous. 



Carcinological Fauna of India.* — Dr. A. Alcock gives a statement 

 of his views as to the classification of the Cyclometopa. The tribe in- 

 cludes : — (1 ) Telphusidae, the highest Cyclometopa, approaching Cato- 

 metopa, derivatives of Oxiine or Eriphiine stocks, now inhabitants of 

 fresh-water or damp jungle ; (2) Xanthidae, with seven sub-families, of 

 which the Oxiinae and Eriphiine approach the Telphusidae, while the 

 Pilumninae and Xanthinae link the family to the Carcininae section of the 

 Portunidae, and through these to the Cancridae ; (3) Portunidse, with 

 four sub-families, of which the Carcininae by way of Carcinus, approach 

 the Xanthidae by way of Hoploxanthus ; (4) Cancridae, with six sub- 

 families, of which the Pirimilinae and Thiinae link the family to Car- 

 cininae, and the Atelecyclinae to the Corystidae ; (5) CorystidaB, the 

 lowest Cyclometopa, having much the same relative position to the 

 higher families of Cyclometopes that the Raninidae have to the higher 

 families of Oxystomes. Then follow diagnoses of the Indian genera and 

 species of Portunidae, Cancridae, and Corystidae. 



Bathynella.! — Mr. W. T. Caiman points out the interest of Bathy- 

 nella natans, a minute Crustacean from a well in Prague, described by 

 Vejdovsky in 1882. No additional specimens have been obtained ; but 

 Caiman has re-examined the unique existing specimen. In spite of its 

 minute size, Bathynella must be referred to the Malacostraca. The 

 number of the somites, the position of the genital apertures, the characters 

 of the thoracic limbs, and the presence of appendages on the terminal 

 somite of the abdomen, appear to afford conclusive evidence on this point. 

 The possibility that it may be larval, as Moniez has suggested, is ex- 

 cluded if the identification of the genital apparatus be correct. Caiman 

 shows that it cannot be received into any of the divisions of the Malaco- 

 straca as commonly defined, but he compares it with the anomalous 

 " Schizopod " Anaspides tasmanica of G. M. Thomson, and shows that 

 many of the characters in which Anaspides agrees with the Palaeozoic 

 Gampsonychidae are also shared by Bathynella. 



New Subterranean Isopod.f — Mr. W. P. Hay describes an inter- 

 esting and apparently new species of Isopod (Haplophthalmus puteus) 

 forty or fifty specimens of which were obtained from an old well in 

 Irvington, Marion County, Indiana. They were evidently strictly 

 aquatic, and lived for some hours in a jar of water, crawling about 

 very much after the manner of Asellus. While in the water the pleopods 

 were gently moved up and down with a fan-like motion. Several of 

 the females carried eggs, six or eight of which were sufficient to fill 

 the brood-pouch. The nearest relatives are Haplophthalmus mengii 

 Zaddach and H. daniers Budde-Lund, inhabitants of moist situations, 

 such as decaying leaves and wood, in various localities in Europe. It 

 is also closely related to Scyphacella [Haplophthalmus) arenicola S. Smith, 

 found burrowing in the sand in various places along the North American 

 Atlantic coast. 



* Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, lxviii. (1899) pp. 1-104. 



t Journ. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), xxvii. (1899) pp. 338-44 (1 pi.). 



+ Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xxi. (1899) pp. 871-2 (1 pi.). 



